Reflections on a Family
by hulklinging
Summary: Curses and evil twins are only scary while you're running from them. After that, it's all a little mundane.


What no one seems to understand is how boring a curse can be.

Sure, it's scary when you don't know when it will happen, but once it does, it's done, and you're left thinking 'is that all?'

"It's all a little anti-climatic, don't you think?"

His evil twin shrugs. "I guess? We're failing algebra, by the way."

"Wow," Billy says, sarcasm obvious even through the mirror. "You are evil."

Tommy makes a face. "Oh, shut up. You weren't so good before you looked at your reflection. So what if I'm not so bad?"

Apparently, even though evil twin brothers run in the family, there's no training for what to do once you've actually tricked your sibling into looking into a mirror, forcefully taking their place.

"No wonder Uncle Pete let Mom out again," Tommy mutters. "School sucks."

"Well, and his wife was a curse breaker who killed her daughter's twin before she was two."

"Yeah..." Granddad had been really unimpressed. They're not allowed to see that cousin anymore.

Billy stretches and picks up the book Tommy had given him. He's been in here a whole six months, but it was only a few weeks ago they figured out they could pass inanimate objects through the glass. This has made Billy's life(?) significantly better. Even if Tommy's taste in novels is a little suspect.

"Well, that is definitely on you, Tommy. I do not plan on having any kids, cursed or not."

Tommy flops back in the bed. "What? No fair, you can't play the gay card every time there's a family responsibility."

"Watch me," quips Billy, and goes back to his book.

The next book Tommy brings him won't pass through the mirror. Tommy looks at it with frustrated confusion.

"What the fuck?" He voices, completely unnecessarily. He likes to swear, because it makes him feel like he's living up to his 'evil twin' status. Billy knows the whole not evil enough thing gets under his brother's skin, so he makes a conscious effort not to swear around him, just to play up the difference. That's what brothers are for, right?

"Maybe ask Uncle Pete?" Billy suggests, but Tommy's already shaking his head.

"can't. He is currently trying to see if he can outrun Mom."

Billy stares at him for a good thirty seconds, disbelieving.

"are you serious," he finally gets out. "He started in the mirror. He must know that's not possible."

Tommy throws the book at the mirror. It doesn't bounce so much as violently ricochet to the other side of the room.

"I think he's just bored, at this point."

Tommy may not be very good at the whole evil thing, but he does come by it honestly. The twins of their family haven't killed each other on purpose in generations.

"Where'd it come from?"

"The boredom? Probably from the fact that he sucks at literally everything-"

"No, not that." He doesn't care about that. "The book."

"Oh. A classmate of yours? Or ours. Mine?" Tommy ponders word choice for a moment. "Anyway, he offered to lend me some books! He said I seem kinda down lately, and maybe some good books will help."

"Do you think he's figured out you're not me?"

Tommy shrugs. "If he does, I'll just use the backup plan. I'm your twin, we switched places, you're at a private school in Jersey."

Billy scowls, unsure if he's joking. "Why Jersey?

"Mom said I got to pick. And I like Jersey."

"More proof you're the evil one."

Tommy reaches under the bed and grabs one of his stash of girlie mags, which he throws at Billy. Because Billy's whole life is some ridiculous punchline, that has no trouble going through the mirror and hitting him in the face.

"I'm showing this to Mom, next time she visits."

"Fine. Then I'll tell her you're gay."

She probably already knows. But still, not something for her to hear first from Tommy. Time for a subject change.

"What classmate?"

"Teddy Altman? Big, blonde..."

"I know who he is." Billy knows he's blushing, and hopes Tommy doesn't choose now as the time he wants to return to the mirror. "If he has caught on, he must be paying pretty close attention."

"Yeah, must be."

"Cool," Billy breathes.

Tommy rolls his eyes and starts flipping through Teddy's book. It's some stupid comic, and it looks cool, when means he's going to have to wait until Billy falls asleep to read it, because no way will he show interest while his brother's around to be smug about it. Damn.

There's something stuck between two of the pages, and Tommy frowns. That is weird. He hopes it isn't something he did. He doesn't want to have to buy the guy a new comic or something. It's a piece of paper, with writing that looks almost familiar...

He grabs it and immediately his stomach lurches. Oh shit. He really should have been more careful.

The banishing scroll is stuck to his hand, and he looks at the mirror completely against his own will. Billy looks over just in time to meet his eyes, his own wide in surprise.

It feels like everything that makes him _him_ is getting pulled through the eye of a needle. He completely loses track of what is up and what is down and who he is, exactly. It only takes a few seconds, but it leaves him utterly exhausted and on the wrong side of the mirror.

Billy looks around their room in the real world, like he can't quite believe it. Then he looks to the left of the mirror, because he wasn't in there long enough to forget that instinct.

"I didn't ask him to do that. I didn't tell him."

Tommy groans, and goes around the mirror room, kicking at Billy's various additions out of pure spite. Also to hide the fact that he was happy to have gotten that over with. Now that he's lorded over Billy being trapped for a bit, maybe they can start doing what their mom and her brother used to do, switching back and forth almost daily, both having the excitement of a life outside the mirror and the quiet safety inside it. Sharing. It worked well for Mom and Uncle Pete for years, until they started fighting and having families to take care of and stuff. He thinks it would work for Billy and him too, and he could take great pleasure in meeting Billy's eye before he had to take any kind of test. Just to maintain the whole 'bad' thing.

Billy pulls out his phone and sees he has a new text from Teddy. Service is not so hot in the mirror, so he takes a second to revel in how quickly his reply sends. Then his face falls.

"Shit. I guess I have to ask him out now, huh? With the whole trying to save me thing."

Tommy laughs loud enough for their mom to hear, all the way from whatever mirror she's been watching their uncle from. Things echo, in that reflective world. When she pops over to say hello, Tommy tries his best to hide his excitement at meeting his mother on the same side of the mirror for the first time. He doesn't quite manage to play it cool, but neither Billy nor Wanda mention it. Wanda just pulls him into a tight hug, and blows Billy a kiss. Billy smiles, risking watching the reunion while Tommy is preoccupied. He makes a mental note to switch back before the weekend, because he knows Tommy has a date with some girl he's been trying to keep a secret, and he wouldn't want him to miss that. After all, what are families for?


End file.
